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[Name], help protect Māori voices on council

Party: Greens

Sender: Miriam Ross | Green Party General Manager <[email protected]>

Date Received: 2025-07-01 11:13


HTML Version




Keep Māori wards
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Kia ora [Name],

Let’s not go backwards. Your support is crucial to protecting Māori voices on local councils.

In the coming local body elections (11 October), many New Zealanders will be asked to vote on whether tangata whenua should continue to have a voice at their local council table.

We need your help right now to get the message out across local communities - we need to keep Māori wards.

Māori wards are vital to upholding Te Tiriti o Waitangi and ensuring Māori representation in local government, but they benefit us all -  tangata whenua and tangata Tiriti. Strong, inclusive representation strengthens our democracy, and makes for better decisions that reflect the needs of the whole community - not just the few.

The Green Party are committed to keeping Māori wards, as part of building a better, fairer future for Aotearoa. By giving today, you’ll help us put up hoardings to make sure locals know the stakes of this referendum, and the importance of voting to defend Māori wards.

Every dollar of your gift will go directly towards supporting our local campaigns to protect Māori representation. Here’s how your gift can help get the message out across local communities:

  • $3 - every bit helps to towards paying for our campaign
  • $26 - is the cost to print each large A0 billboard for advertising in local communities
  • $49 - pays for printing for one 2m x 1m billboard
  • $85 - will cover printing costs for 500 flyers
  • $1200 - pays for a week of local body staff time.

As tangata Tiriti, I was proud to stand alongside tangata whenua among the 80,000 New Zealanders who joined the Hīkoi mō te Tiriti last year. Yet while the divisive Treaty Principles Bill was defeated, the Government has kept up its cynical attacks on Te Tiriti o Waitangi - from trawling 28 pieces of legislation for treaty clauses it can scrap, to plans to limit the powers and scope of the Waitangi Tribunal, to its anti-democratic Regulatory Standards Bill which would force ACT party ideology into our lawmaking processes. And it doesn’t stop there.

By forcing these referendums, the Government is trying to undermine Māori representation at a local level. Māori have been underrepresented in local government for generations - that’s why in 2021, the government of the day protected Māori wards by removing the ability for a small group of voters to overturn them by forcing a public vote. 

But last year, the National/ACT/NZ First Coalition Government reversed that and instead passed law to force Councils to hold binding polls on whether to keep their Māori wards. Despite giving lip service to localism, they’re riding roughshod over councils, at a time when the Government should be supporting local government to fully uphold Te Tiriti o Waitangi and affirm the tino rangatiratanga rights of iwi and hapū. 

This referendum is a direct threat to Māori voices. We need to keep Māori wards.

[Name], your gift today will help us rally local people in regions where Māori voices are threatened, and ensure tangata whenua retain their seats at council tables.

Thank you for helping us to keep Māori wards and ensuring Māori representation in local government. 

Ngā mihi nui,

Miriam Ross

Green Party General Manager and Party Secretary

P.S. I believe in honouring Te Tiriti o Waitangi, and that’s why I’m voting yes. Please give now so we can do our bit to protect local Māori representation.

Authorised by Miriam Ross, Level 5, 108 The Terrace, Wellington.
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Text Version

Keep Māori wards
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<http://www.greens.org.nz/donate>
Kia ora [Name],
*Let’s not go backwards. Your support is crucial to protecting Māori voices
on local councils.*
In the coming local body elections (11 October), many New Zealanders will
be asked to vote on whether tangata whenua should continue to have a voice
at their local council table.
*We need your help right now to get the message out across local
communities - we need to keep Māori wards*.
<https://www.greens.org.nz/keepmaoriwardsappeal
<https://www.greens.org.nz/keepmaoriwardsappeal
GIVE
$3 TODAY
<https://www.greens.org.nz/keepmaoriwardsappeal
Māori wards are vital to upholding Te Tiriti o Waitangi and ensuring Māori
representation in local government, but they benefit us all - tangata
whenua and tangata Tiriti. Strong, inclusive representation strengthens our
democracy, and makes for better decisions that reflect the needs of the
whole community - not just the few.
*The Green Party are committed to keeping Māori wards, as part of building
a better, fairer future for Aotearoa. By giving today, you’ll help us put
up hoardings to make sure locals know the stakes of this referendum, and
the importance of voting to defend Māori** wards.*
Every dollar of your gift will go directly towards supporting our local
campaigns to protect Māori representation. Here’s how your gift can help
get the message out across local communities:
- *$3* - every bit helps to towards paying for our campaign
- *$26* - is the cost to print each large A0 billboard for advertising
in local communities
- *$49* - pays for printing for one 2m x 1m billboard
- *$85* - will cover printing costs for 500 flyers
- *$1200* - pays for a week of local body staff time.
<https://www.greens.org.nz/keepmaoriwardsappeal
GIVE
TODAY
<https://www.greens.org.nz/keepmaoriwardsappeal
*As tangata Tiriti, I was proud to stand alongside tangata whenua among the
80,000 New Zealanders who joined the Hīkoi mō te Tiriti last year.* Yet
while the divisive Treaty Principles Bill was defeated, the Government has
kept up its cynical attacks on Te Tiriti o Waitangi - from trawling 28
pieces of legislation for treaty clauses it can scrap, to plans to limit
the powers and scope of the Waitangi Tribunal, to its anti-democratic
Regulatory Standards Bill which would force ACT party ideology into our
lawmaking processes. And it doesn’t stop there.
*By forcing these referendums, the Government is trying to undermine Māori
representation at a local level. *Māori have been underrepresented in local
government for generations - that’s why in 2021, the government of the day
protected Māori wards by removing the ability for a small group of voters
to overturn them by forcing a public vote.
But last year, the National/ACT/NZ First Coalition Government reversed that
and instead passed law to force Councils to hold binding polls on whether
to keep their Māori wards. Despite giving lip service to localism, they’re
riding roughshod over councils, at a time when the Government should be
supporting local government to fully uphold Te Tiriti o Waitangi and affirm
the tino rangatiratanga rights of iwi and hapū.
*This referendum is a direct threat to Māori voices. We need to keep Māori
wards.*
*[Name], your gift today will help us rally local people in regions where
Māori voices are threatened, and ensure tangata whenua retain their seats
at council tables.*
<https://www.greens.org.nz/keepmaoriwardsappeal
<https://www.greens.org.nz/keepmaoriwardsappeal
SUPPORT
MĀORI WARDS - GIVE TODAY
<https://www.greens.org.nz/keepmaoriwardsappeal
*Thank you for helping us to keep Māori wards and ensuring Māori
representation in local government. *
Ngā mihi nui,
Miriam Ross
Green Party General Manager and Party Secretary
*P.S. I believe in honouring Te Tiriti o Waitangi, and that’s why I’m
voting yes. Please give now so we can do our bit to protect local Māori
representation.*
<https://www.greens.org.nz/keepmaoriwardsappeal
Authorised by Miriam Ross, Level 5, 108 The Terrace, Wellington.
This email was sent to [Email] | Unsubscribe
<https://www.greens.org.nz/unsubscribe